Embracing Enterprise Excellence: ITSM versus DevOps

How do we know our DevOps can KanBan on the Agile edge of reality without getting a bad ITIL reputation that impacts our ITSM, so badly that NSP and employee engagement lag, and only a stealth Lean Change Agent can wiggle in, and wrastle it all into synergy again?  

What is the best approach to enable pace and business success? Results matter.  Be clear on what you must deliver, and know where your challenges are, good ideologies support without weighing you down.  As a transformation agent, I speak process, but dont suggest rigidly one over another. Our job is ultimately not to "be" a process, but to "deliver" a value with process and whatever we are trying to do and be.  So what are you doing today?  That is infinitely more interesting a question to start with. 

1. WHAT ARE YOUR VISION, MISSION, AND VALUES?  

2. WHAT ARE YOU PRESENTLY CHALLENGED TO DELIVER?   

Ask and Answer those questions.  The best practice methodologies available afford you a wealth of good enablers, and all come with their own limitations.   Focus on the customer and the output to select the approach ideas in communities of best practice thinkers that a half a dozen different views of the problem might post some more interesting solutions or accelerators.   

Do something, do it well, do it consistently.  My best advise is answered not in picking which single methodology will be best, but what is the best way to deliver compelling services, for competitive price, with treasured customer loyalty?   

Because of the depth and breadth of my exposure to solution delivery, which methodology "wins" or is "best".  The answer is not as simple, because methodologies are tools where one size or interpretation does not fit all.  What is clear, is that a choice to ignore best practices entirely is not a good idea.   Through the year 2021, "80% of organizations that do not embrace multiple good ideologies -- Lean, DevOps, ITIL, Agile, Kanban and the like -- risk losing market share" ~ George Spafford, research director at Gartner

The best answer to any business challenge is not in a singular view, but chances are good that our "expertise" leans us in one way or another.  How can we bring the best of our experience, and combine and innovate the best solution?  

• DevOps is a shift to encourage collaboration in building better software faster, with better reliability. Focus on delivery. 
• ITSM offers improved efficiency, reduced operational cost, self service efficiency, cross IT Collaboration through standardization with visibility into customer experience. 
• COBIT offers prescriptive process for evidence of sound governance and operational management reliability. 
• LEAN was created when Six Sigma seemed like overkill

I enjoy point counterpoint discussions of best practice, because it is in understanding the enabling capabilities, and analyzing the shortcomings that we can improve our approach

Gene Kim author of  “The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win” wrote an opinion article for ITSM Review suggested "Trust me: The DevOps Movement fits perfectly with ITSM"   and that in a DevOps world where people are trying to get rid of ITSM, comes a recognition that ITSM skill sets are needed as a foundation to enable DevOps, not in competition to, or instead of DevOps, they fit perfectly together.  He defines 4 areas where ITSM helps DevOps initiatives recognize value 

1. Extend DevOps In ITOPs through continuous integration and release process work streams, ensuring production readiness, using consistent defined roles for change, and common system of record for build planning, change readiness, and implementation from build to production 
2. Create ITOPs feedback in DevOps Build/Implement readiness to ensure supportability/reliability WITH rapid release.  Keeps infrastructure change elements visible, pushes change with incident monitoring,  blameless implementation readiness assessement and post implementation review. 
3. Embed DevOps in ITOPs to train skills and proximity to change.  Development teams are embedded in ITOPs Incident Management and provides knowledge and training to ITOPs. 
4. Embed ITOPs feedback in DevOps to recognize IT as a first customer to DevOps Release.  Using Ops knowledge and capabilities into Dev we act on the value of DevOps continuing to advance a product, and IT OPs using the releases to break things early and often, identify them with the ITOPs skillset to manage issues, report knowledge, file bugs, and manage experience. 

Charles Betz, Principal Analylst at Forrester blogged the counterpoint via "ITIL and DevOps: Differences & Frameworks Working Together".  He outlines 3 ITSM weaknesses that pose counterproductive aspects to DevOps value 

1. ITSM organizational assumptions lean toward functional silos where KanBan or Agile lightweight workflow might create engagement or management challenges.   
2. CMDB and ITIL seem to have problems defining requirements for cloud where KanBan or Agile development is occuring, and components are being created, or even implemented in cloud, how do we define the scope and impact to a point of management during test and production? 
3. ITSM insistence on servicedesign, documentation and planning constrains or slows the initial scope start up, and iterative progress pace.  

For every limitation, high performance teams are keeping their eye on delivery and execution of quality products, released in time, for a competitive price and value.   They are familiar with how to right size their process discipline to deliver results with clarity stability, and continuous process improvement.

Dawn C Khan is an IT Change Manager at Palo Alto Networks and servers on the Board as an Event Manager for San Francisco Bay Area IT Service Management Forum.